Fragile Hearts
by C.K. degu
Summary: A awoman from Jack's past makes a deal with him. And now, Jack has a choice to make.
1. Chapter 1

A/n: Sat down to write because of the upcoming Pirates Movie. Can't wait to see it! 

Standard disclaimers apply.

Fragile Hearts

By: C.K degu

Chapter One: It Begins With A Kiss

Exhilaration coursed through every fiber of Captain Sparrow's body as he made his way back to the Black Pearl. He had in his possession, the location of a map that would lead to the location of one greatest treasure haunts in the Caribbean; the treasure of _La Boheme_. And Jack was determined to get it, with the help of his crew, of course.

For tonight, Jack was alone. He found no need in companionship just as he was about to leave. Not wanting to be noticed by the crowd, he slipped in and out of the shadows, casual and cool as always. He seemed drunk, but then again, he was almost always drunk. His mind was settled on the idea of finding the location of the map, one of the outer islands in the Caribbean, in a cave of some sort. Although his mind was occupied with other things, Jack was still quite aware of his surroundings. He was also fully aware that someone was following him. Five feet away from the Pearl, he stopped and felt something hard behind his head. Something hard and cold enough to be a pistol. Jack almost yawned or rolled his eyes.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked, determined to get away before the crew shot this poor drunk who was trying to kill him. Jack had a heart too sometimes.

"I am in need of your expertise and service, Captain Sparrow," said an effeminate voice, dignified and proper, which was unlikely in a place like this, "I am looking for someone, and you are going to help me find her."

"As tempting as it sounds, love," Jack said, "I see no profit in it for me. And you know as well as I that you can't shoot me here. My crew is waiting, eyeing our every move as we speak. Now if you would kindly let me be on my way, I have treasure to retrieve, savvy?"  
"You will never find the treasure of _La Boheme_, Captain Sparrow without a map," the woman said, "and the map is not in the caves in the beaches of St. Kitts. I should know."  
"And which drunk informed you of this fact, love?" Jack asked, daring to turn around to face the pistol aimed at his head. His supposed shooter was hidden behind the shadows, her face masked. All Jack could see was a delicious body hiding behind custom swashbuckler wear.

"Looking for this, Captain?" she asked, holding out something tightly coiled in her hand, the color and kind of paper enough to make Jack reach out for it. How in the blazes did this woman get a hold of the map of _La Boheme_?

"Ah, ah, ah, no touching," said the woman, the parchment map folded and placed securely on her person, "this shall be your end of the deal, Captain. Help me find my daughter, and I shall help you retrieve your treasure. Provided, of course, that you bring us back to Versailles at the end of your journey."

"Versailles, eh?" Jack said, already warming up to her, "I once knew a lass who resided there. Lovely woman, lovely singing voice, horrible temper."  
She seemed not to hear him, and held out her hand.

"So we have an accord, Captain Sparrow?" she asked. Jack grinned and held out his hand to her and shook it.

"Aye, lass, we have an accord," he replied, and the shake ended.

"Now, if you don't mind lowering the pistol you have pointed at my head, thank you," Jack said as she lowered the offending weapon, "Now, step out of the shadows and we may begin." 

She stepped forward, the moonlight casting a glow on her. Jack's eye's caught her hair, silky, black and straight. It fell somewhere above her slim waist. Her eyes were also dark, too dark to be illuminated in the moonlight. Her bronzed skin was seemingly delicate and soft. Her lips were thick and luscious as the curled to a smile.

"We meet again, Jack," she said, "thank you for agreeing to help me find our daughter."

"I beg your pardon?" Jack asked, his shock only growing twice as much upon the mention of a daughter.

End of Chapter One

Reviews are very much appreciated.

La Boheme, is of course, the name of an opera. But it was all that I could think of at the moment, I apologize. And sorry if this is a bit short, but it's just the first chapter and I promise to make the others as lengthy as I possibly can.


	2. Chapter 2

A/n: Sat down to write because of the upcoming Pirates Movie. Can't wait to see it:)

Standard disclaimers apply.

Fragile Hearts

By: C.K degu

Chapter Two: How The Hell?

The Pearl was drifting steadily across the waters as Jack took his position at the helm. He was proud, and seemingly unaffected by recent events. He looked to be the epitome of calm as he stood at the Pearl's head, commanding the ship. Gibbs was just behind him, watching him.

"Master Gibbs, might you tell me why you are giving me such looks?" Jack said, not looking behind him.

"Jus' wondrin' why the lass has to come aboard," Gibbs said with a shrug.

"It's that time of the year when I decide to do one thing right and help the bonny lass find her…ehrm…daughter," Jack said, hesitation evident in his voice that Gibbs didn't quite catch.

"Whatever you say, Cap'n. But as a friend, I would like to advise ye to get her story before we rescue her 'daughter'", Gibbs said, retreating to the deck as Jack mulled over his words. It was then that she stepped on deck. She was wearing a very plain white dress for the journey, and she stood by the railings, looking out at the sea.

Was it just Jack, or were those tears stinging her eyes?

After calling Anamaria to handle the steering of the great ship for the moment, Jack went over to her, listening to her faint sobs, watching her.

"Mimi," he called to her, but she whipped her head and glared at Jack.

"It's Maria. You can't call me Mimi anymore," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Right. I was just about to inquire as to where I am to direct this beauty of a ship so you may retrieve…uhm…her and aid me as to my quest to find the treasure of _La Boheme_."

Maria tossed the map at Jack, and he was able to catch it with a great amount of surprise. She was willing to give the map away so easily? Upon opening the said map, Jack saw that there was something scrawled at the back.

"'X' marks the spot. The spot of where?"  
"Where they put my daughter, Mimi," Maria said, walking away from Jack. He suddenly grabbed her hand, forcing her to come back.

"Our daughter," he corrected her, "You named her Mimi?"

"Yes. Sort of a tribute to you after you insisted on calling me that. Jack, let me go."

"I think I have a right to know, love," Jack told her, "What happened to us."

"I try to think that there was never an us to begin with, Jack. I was a nobleman's daughter; you were a pirate to begin with. We spend one month of bliss together, and then you had to continue with your life, I had mine."

"Yet I do seem to recall asking you to come with me," Jack said, moving closer to her, their eyes locked in a battle of their own.

"A child can never survive growing up at the sea," Maria answered, "I was not about to give her that disadvantage."

"I had a right to know," Jack challenged, unmoving. He sounded so serious about this, like he really wanted to know, to care and to understand how Maria could keep this from him.

"Oh, did you? And what would you have done, Jack? You wouldn't have stayed, and I certainly would not have come with you. Its better that it ended with you thinking that I wanted to stay. I didn't want to hold you down."

"You never would have, love," Jack said softly, his lips almost brushing against her face as he said those words.

"Jack, just please help me find her and then we'll be out of your way, like nothing ever happened," Maria said, almost exasperated.

"Does she know who her father is, at least?" Jack asked her, knowing that the conversation was about to close.

"Yes. And she loves him very much," Maria said, walking away from Jack, wishing to hell that they would get there soon.

She didn't want to talk to Jack anymore. Old feelings just rushed back when he spoke to her. Every time he would speak, it was like the time had gone back four years, before Mimi was even in the world. And Maria remembered that night. Their last night together, the night that she had decided not to come with him, the night that she sealed her daughter's fate as a child without a father.

_Four years ago, in Versailles..._

_Maria and Jack lay in bed together, under the moonlight, tangled in white satin sheets. Jack was lying on his back, a satisfied smile on his face. Maria was on her stomach, her head resting on Jack's bare chest, the both of them breathing to a steady rhythm as they lay there, the most blissful of thoughts in Jack's mind. Maria, however, was thing of something quite deep and profound. And Jack could see this in her face._

_"Anything on your mind, love?" he asked her, his hands running circles on her shoulder. His hands were never idle, Maria noticed. They always had to be doing something._

_"I was just thinking about what you asked me, Jack. About….leaving this hellhole to travel with you all over the Caribbean and such."  
"Yes, love?"  
"I…I can't. I can't go with you. Something's happened, and …I can't leave."_

_Jack's hand stopped, and Maria noticed this. She knew he was surprised, and she didn't want to see his face right now. He could be angry, for all she knew. But she was firm in her choice. Jack can't raise a child. She would rather do it by herself, on safe ground. She didn't want to tie him down._

**It was better for him to think that I broke his heart than for him to run away and be called a coward.**

_"I understand, love," Jack said softly. And for one brief moment, his hand brushed against her stomach, and a chill went thought Maria's body, in a good kind of way. And in that moment, she wished. She wished that Jack knew about the baby, and would stay with her. She wished he would force her to be with him, in that case she would not object. She dreamed of being his wife, and of him being her loving husband, with a sweet and beautiful child by their side. But at the back of her mind, she knew her dreams were just wishful thinking. It was better this way._

_"I love you, Jack," Maria whispered to him, so softly that she knew that he would not hear, not knowing that Jack had said the same thing to her in the same low whisper._

_"I love you, Mimi."_

_And that same night, as Maria slept soundly, Jack got up and put on his clothes. He bent over towards Maria, and after one last, lingering kiss, he sighed and looked at her one last time._

_"Goodbye, love," he said to her before vanishing forever._

As Jack reminisced on these things, he found that he was angry. Angry at Maria for not telling him about Mimi, and thinking that he was incompetent to raise a child (which, come to think of it, he was, but that was not the point) with her. He was also angry at himself for letting her just slip away from him like this. He loved her. Of course he did. And Jack knew that he would love his daughter even more.

His daughter. His Mimi. Now that sounded just wonderful.

"Gibbs," he called, his eyes casting slightly on the map, where a large black 'X' marked the location of both the treasure and his daughter.

"Yes, Cap'n?"

"Set a course for Kweba de Cruces. We have treasure to take."

End Chapter Two


	3. Chapter 3

Fragile Hearts

Chapter Three: What I Have Done

For the trip to Kweba Cruces, Jack had been trying to find Maria. He had so many questions in his mind, questions that he knew only she could answer. But the damn girl had decided to disappear, and Jack could not find her. There was also the fact that he had a ship to steer, and could not give much time and effort into finding her. But maybe that was exactly her idea. Brilliant. He was never going to find her.

Think, Jack. Where would Maria most likely be? In a place where she thinks you would never find her. Somewhere she could be alone. Thinking about her, Jack made a beeline to the crow's nest. It was perfect.High up in the air where nobody could see her, the view fantastic enough for her to appreciate. Where there would be nobody to bother her, where she could be. Jack wondered how she managed to get up to the crow's nest if she was bringing her notebook alongwith her. She always had a notebook with her, in case she wanted to write somethign down or start sketching. It was only when Jack reached the top of the crow's nest that he realized something. Maria was afraid of heights, and therefore would not like being so high up in the crow's nest.

"Bloody hell," Jack muttered under his breath before heading back down. Why did his ship have to be so damn big? He was never going to find her.

"Jack, are you looking for something?" Maria asked, her voice drifting behind him as his feet landed safely on the deck. Jack turned around and came face to face with her.

"You have no idea how long I have been trying to find you, love," he said. Maria almost rolled her eyes inside her head. Now that was a first. Come to think of it. she was also surprised that Jack would agree to this venture. Yes, there was treasure in it for him, but, if he was the Jack she knew, he could have just grabbed the map and left her on a godforsaken island to die. But not this time. Jack actually wanted to help her. But Maria still didn't understand why.

"What can I do for you?" Maria asked Jack, folowing him into his cabin where he secured a bottle of rum, dowining it in one gulp. That trip up the crows nest made him thirsty.

"I need to know how she was taken," Jack said, seriousness painting his face as he looked at the beautiful Maria.

"No, Jack. You don't," she told him, her voice coming out softer and more weary than she had intended. She was just so tired. Tired of chasing dead ends, tired of bearing the pain of losing Mimi all by herself. When she had first been taken, there was none but her to care. It was Jack who first gave a damn for the mother's plea to find her daughter.

"You never even told me she exisited. I belive I have a right to know about her, savvy?" Jack demanded more than argued, and Maria knew she had to give in if she wanted there to be any chance of finding Mimi alive. Crossing her arms over her chest, she sighed and told the tale of her daughter's capture.

It was a hot summer's day in Versailles, and Maria had decided to go to the Market with Mimi, since the mansion was running low on food supplies. So, dressing up her daughter and informing her parents of her intentions to go shopping, Maria and Mimi rode the carrige to the market. On their way there, Maria mused on her life, and the things that had happened after her announcement that she was pregnant with her daughter. Her patents being the brilliant nobles that they were, were quick to come up wiht an excuse why their un-engaged unamarried daughter was suddenly with child. They fabricated this elaborate tale of Maria falling in love with a nobleman from the other side of the Caribbean, and their runaway marriage in the sea. Upon leanring that his wife was to have a child, Maria's supposed husband left her in Versallies for her safety.

Unfortunatley, on his way to visit his wife, a thunderstorm had hit, dragging the nobleman's ship under to Davy Jones' locker. Even Maria was amazed at how people believed it so easily. Until now expressing their condolences to her when she was alone. Looking at Mimi, Maria was amazed at how much her daughter resembled the pirate she fell in love with. She and Jack shared the same mischevous brown eyes, eyes that held so much light and warmth when they look at you for the very first time. Her hair was as jet black as Maria's except someone's genes made it wild and curly, tamed only by the most painful of hairstyles unless pulled into a bun at the top of her head. Her build was like her much like mother's when she was a child herself, a round face with plump cheeks. Even for a child her age, she was witty and sweet, and she ahd this starnge attraction to shiny things, which was a concern. But it was the pirate blood running thorugh her veins, and Maria could not deny her daughter of her heritage.

"Mama, what are we going to do at the market?" Mimi asked curiously, bouncing on her chair. The girl could barely keep still.

"We are going to buy food for the house, since you have eaten it all," Maria teased gently, tickling her daughter's sides. Most parents would not have approved, but she was not like most parents, and Mimi was certainly not like most children.

"Mama, can we go to see the ports? Please!" Mimi begged her mother, turning on the charm. Maria sighed. Mimi could not be away from the sea for too long, she noticed. And she knew that her daughter had the small hope in her heart that one day, her father would sail to Versallies for her and her mother, and that they would live on a ship and live happily ever after. Maria used to think that too.

"I'm sorry honey, but we have dinner plans with the Turners of Port Royal tonight, remember?" Maria asked, tucking her daughter's hair behind her ear. And dinner plans thye had, indeed. Maria's parents invited all kinds of people to winde and dine with them, if only to prove their hight status in society. Granted, the Tunrners were possibly the only normal people that Maria ever had the pleasure of meeting, but Mimi wasn't too excited about it. Dinner plans meant sitting still for sevaral hours, even if she got to sit still with young Will Turner, their son.

Mimi was still complaining of their dinner plans when they reached the market. Maria only laughed and ignored her daughter, holding her hand so she would not get lost. Things were going quite well. Mimi was still with Maria, skulking on how it was unfair that she had to got to dinner and listen to annoying Will Turner as he told her about things that never really happened in Port Royal, like pirate attacks and the fact that his dad was a pirate too. Maria continued ignoring Mimi, buying things, letting her daughter rant out all her anger while she could. They we just about to go over to the vegetable stand to buy something when Mimi suddenly screamed.

"Mama! I hate you!!" she yelled, and let go of Carla, running away.

"Mimi!" Maria exclaimed, running after her daughter. Since when could Mimi run like this? Maria had her eye on her as they chased after one another, following her as Mimi ran straight to the port, where the ships were docking. Mimi stopped and looked at them, the wind blowing in her hair, her tears streaking her face. There was quite a crowd in the ports, and Maria only got glimpses of her daughter as she made her way to Mimi.

"Mimi!' she yelled, but Mimi ignored her. Maria was just about to reach her daughter when she vanished, out of thin air. Maria looked around desperatley.

"Mimi! Mimi!"

Her heart was racing, and she could barely keep her feelings in check. Someone had taken her daughter away, and whoever tried so...there was hell to pay.

"I tried asking for help, but there was no way that I could. In my parent's mind, good riddance that Mimi was gone. A lot less for them to look after," Maria snorted, in such an unladylike manner that it made Jack smile.

"If I had been there..." Jack began, but Maria shook her head.

"Jack, what you could have done doesn't matter. You weren't there anyway," Maria muttered, looking down on her feet. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"Do I see the great Maria Marquez crying?" Jack asked teasingly, approaching Maria to wipe away a tear. He had never seen her cry this much before. She hardly ever cried, and Jack knew that.

"I have cried many nights after you left," she told him. Oh Jack, why didn't you come back? Why didn't you stay and fight for me?

Because I never told you about Mimi, that's why. Maria knew that it was her own fault that Jack had left her.

"You don't have to cry anymore," Jack said, kissing her fingers, as he held her hands, "We will find her."

Chills went up Maria's spine at Jack's touch. She missed Jack so much, she could scarcely breathe. She loved Jack, she still did. And she hated the way she left things. Jack would have taken her with him. He would have loved Mimi. But that's not how Maria knew him back then. He had changed.

"Jack," Maria breathed as Jack placed his lips on hers. He was kissing her with a passion that she had never felt in such a long time. Her heart swelled at Jack's touch, and she was simply bursting with joy at the contact.

"Jack," Maria called more urgently, "Jack!"

"Yes, love," he asked, his hands already moving to loosen her breeches.

"Don't do this," she said to him, interrupted by Jack's kisses, "If you don't mean it."

And in Maria's lips, Jack whispered the three little words that would make everything in the world seem right.

Later that evening, as the ship arrived in Kweba Cruces, A man stood from his place at the inside of the caves, watching the Black Pearl as it arrived at the shores. Behind him, a young girl with a mass of curls on her head slept soundly, gagged at the mouth. She had fallen asleep after her attempts to yell herself free were for naught.

"Good work Maria," the man said with a grin, "We'll have him yet."

End Chapter


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